Your Future In Biology
As a Biology major, you may qualify for a career in:
- Environmental management and conservation
- Government
- Higher education
- Industry (biotechnology, pharmaceutical sales or laboratory technician)
- Research
- Secondary school education
The major can also prepare you to enter a dental, medical or veterinary school or a training program to become a health care professional.
What we offer
Our comprehensive curriculum allows you to earn either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. While pursuing your degree, you’ll explore all aspects of living systems from the molecular basis of genetic inheritance to the interactions between organisms and the environment.
You can explore a wide variety of areas, such as:
- Aquatic toxicology
- Cell biology
- Ecology and evolution
- Forensic biology
- Laboratory techniques used in research
- Microscopic organisms, such as bacteria
- Plant and animal structure and function (physiology)
A key component of our program is involving students in research when they start pursuing their degree. Research opportunities are available through the National Genomics Research Initiative, the UNT-Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Research Program and the FOCUS program. Academic credit can also be earned for a research project.
Additional research and learning opportunities are provided through our student chapters of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society or the Alpha Epsilon Delta Health Pre-Professional Honor Society. We also sponsor a departmental seminar series where researchers from around the nation offer their perspectives on related subjects.
Our collaborative program with the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth combines college and medical school if you’re interested in a medical career. The program prepares you to serve in a residency at a hospital or clinic in seven years instead of the usual eight years needed to complete a bachelor’s degree and medical school.
The Teach North Texas Program helps students interested in teaching science achieve teacher certification. Information about this program is available at their website.
Outstanding faculty and student support
Our faculty members are dedicated to high-quality teaching and research. They conduct relevant basic and applied research and assist local, state and national companies and organizations. They’ve been honored by the American Society for Microbiology, National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation, among others.
Scholarships are available to help you pursue your degree. Scholarship information is available at our website using the undergraduate and financial support links. Students have also won externally funded scholarships and other research fellowships.
The Life Sciences Complex, which has Gold-level LEED certification for sustainability, is a living lab with open research spaces that feature rooftop greenhouses. It houses biochemistry, developmental physiology and genetics, molecular biology and plant science programs.
What to expect
You can declare your intent to major in Biology upon enrolling at UNT. However, you’ll have to complete specific pre-requisite courses in biology, chemistry and math to be eligible for upper-level course work in the major.
Most of your courses will have a lecture and a lab component. The lab meets for one hour per week in addition to your regularly scheduled lecture. Labs provide you hands-on opportunities to complete course work and conduct research.
You’ll also enroll in technical writing, physics and capstone courses. The capstone course focuses on reading, presenting and discussing research. Specific requirements are outlined on our catalog website.
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